


Ghost at the back of your closet

by wannabequeen



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Character Turned Into a Ghost, F/F, pre-adaire/hella/adelaide if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 20:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wannabequeen/pseuds/wannabequeen
Summary: Hella and Adelaide have an unexpected roommate when they move into a new place.Secret Samol 2018 gift for gayvulcan.tumblr.com, for the prompt "modern AU which still incorporates supernatural elements"





	Ghost at the back of your closet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skywalkers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skywalkers/gifts).



“The posting for this place on Nacre and 17th said it’s haunted, but like, that’s bullshit, right?”

 

Hella stops doing crunches to look at Adaire, who is sitting on the bed with her laptop. She seems unimpressed, but they're finally at a place in their relationship where they want to live together, without roommates. Unfortunately, every apartment they've looked at has had something seriously wrong with it.

 

“Yeah. Total bullshit. If the only catch is dealing with a nonexistent ghost, this is the best place by far.”

 

“Fine, yeah, I’m emailing the lady right now telling her we want it.”

 

****

 

They move in on a nice spring day. Hadrian offered to let them borrow his pickup, but Adaire got weird about possibly owing him a favor, so they roll up in her little Kia.

 

Adaire numbered her boxes and labelled them. Hella is putting "Box 22: petticoats (nice) and amulets" down in the bedroom when the back of her neck prickles. She stands slowly and turns, but there's nothing there.

 

****

 

That night, there's a cold draft. It's weird, because the weather had been warming up, but Hella unpacks the duvet and they snuggle closer. It's fine.

 

****

 

One morning after they've lived there a few weeks, Adaire turns from where she was setting up the coffee to see that her apple vanished off the counter. When she opens the drawer in the fridge, all of the apples are gone.

 

She hears a crunching like someone is eating an apple in another room, but Hella never wakes up this early. She grabs a steak knife and walks over, but there's nothing in the room except another cold spot and the faint scent of perfume.

 

Adaire shrugs, and starts peeling an orange. It'll taste disgusting with the coffee, but apparently they're out of apples.

 

****

 

Throndir and Kodiak come over to check if it's an issue of mice in the insulation, causing drafts and eating apples. They find a pearl earring wedged under a cabinet and a bunch of Hella's lost socks, but no mouse holes or signs that anything is wrong with the house.

 

Still, Throndir gives them some natural pest repellent recommendations and sticks an iron nail on the lintel of their door before he goes. It can't hurt.

 

****

 

Their radio keeps tuning to a different station when they aren't paying attention. It always seems to play the right song for the moment, and the announcer's voice is soft and indistinct. Adaire quite likes it, but she can never find the frequency when she tries in the car. 

 

****

 

Adaire’s recent search history:

Signs of ghosts

Haunted radio

Ghosts like apples?

 

****

 

Hella walks out of the shower to find a winky face drawn in the steam on the mirror. She figures it was Adaire.

 

****

 

Adaire walks out of the shower to find a winky face drawn in the steam. She figures it was Hella.

 

****

 

Hella and Adaire walk out of the shower to find a winky face drawn in the steam.

 

"Okay, did you draw that, though?" Hella asks, gesturing.

 

"No, maybe it's left from when you drew it the other day." Adaire smiles at Hella and starts digging around for her hairbrush.

 

"I didn't draw it, I thought you did."

 

"No, definitely didn't. Weird."

 

They hear a faint laugh. Hella pulls her softball bat out from under the sink and goes out swinging, but once again, there's nothing there.

 

"Fuck this," she says. "We're banishing this ghost."

 

****

 

Adaire's first plan is to draw a salt circle. She's walking around the house with a bag of the stuff they put down on the driveway when it snows, when Hella points out that the ghost is already inside the house so salt won't keep it out.

 

Then their downstairs neighbor notices, and starts yelling at Adaire about how bad salt is for his flowerbeds, and she abandons the project.

 

****

 

Conversation with: Hadrian 

        >> Hey bud 

        >>can I uh ask u someth

<< Of course, Hella, anything, you know that

        >>did they teach u ghost shit at church school

<< You said you’d stop making fun of me for that

        >> no for real 

        >>my apartment is haunted

        >> can u come and excommunicate it or whatever

<< ????

        >> next option is challenging this ghost to a pit match

        >> have u ever fought a ghost?

<< I’ll be there in 20.

        >> Bring Rosana

<< Copy. Over and out.

 

****

 

Hadrian comes over in his full regalia, and Hella follows him anxiously as he chants and swings the censer. 

 

“How do you know if it works?” Hella asks. 

 

“I don't know, I've never done this.”

 

“Yeah, but what are you expecting? Will it go screaming into the afterlife with a flash of light? Should we be wearing safety equipment?”

 

“My vestments should be all the equipment we need. The power of Samothes protects us.”

 

Adaire and Rosana, sharing cigarette on the front stoop, hear a loud crash, followed by Hella and Hadrian yelling at each other. 

 

They make eye contact and just shrug, turning back to looking out at the street. Rosana blows a pensive smoke ring, and asks “So the ghost has communicated with you through the mirror, right? Why not write them a message back?”

 

“Hella doesn't really… negotiate. And it just seems so silly, I suppose.”

 

“You could try to resolve whatever is keeping them here, maybe.”

 

Adaire grabs the cigarette and hums noncomittally. Behind them, Hadrian and Hella come down the stairs, slightly singed and arguing still about whose fault it was. 

 

****

 

The next time Adaire showers, she leaves the water going when she gets out. She wraps herself up in her bathrobe and raises her pointer finger, pausing just before she touches the mirror. She shakes her head and writes, in her nearest writing, 

 

_ Hello? _

 

She crosses her arms and stares at the mirror as the steam slowly fills in her words. After a few minutes, she huffs and turns to shut off the tap. She knew it was superstitious nonsense, but… as she moves to leave, she sees a reflection not her own. The mirror is fogged, but the figure definitely has darker skin and a different silhouette. 

 

She freezes, watching from the corner of her eye as letters write themselves out, a fingertip moving across the surface like it's just a different side of a window. 

 

_ Hi! _

 

And then a... smiley face? Adaire startles, and as she turns to face the mirror fully, the figure fades away.

 

Very calmly, at a perfectly normal speed, Adaire walks into their bedroom and shakes Hella’s shoulder. Hella groans and tries to roll away, but Adaire keeps shaking.

 

“Hella. Hella! I talked to the ghost,” she stage whispers.

 

Hella sits up like Adaire flipped a switch, bedhead wild as she whispers back, “You did. What?”

 

Adaire fills her in, and when she's done Hella stomps toward the bathroom, announcing that they're going to go talk to the ghost some more.

 

She wrenches on the shower and the hot tap, and looks slightly to the side of the mirror, drumming her fingers on her thighs as she waits.

 

_ I'm Adelaide, _ the ghost writes.  _ Stay still. _

 

The finger against the glass becomes a whole palm, and a circle clears large enough to show Adelaide’s face. 

 

“You're, like, really pretty,” Hella blurts out.

 

Adaire can't help but snort out a laugh at her girlfriend. Adelaide throws her head back and laughs silently as well. But then her face gets serious again, and underlines where she wrote “stay still.”

 

Adaire and Hella both freeze, but Adelaide doesn't do anything as the steam begins to cover the mirror again.

 

_ Curse of Nacre -> can't leave, we tried _

 

“Curse of Nacre? I didn't think the neighborhood was that bad,” says Adaire, attempting to lighten the mood. Hella is still mulishly staring at a corner of the ceiling with her arms crossed and jaw clenched, so she doesn't think it worked.

 

_ You're the 1st tennants I've liked. You can stay. _

 

“We sure aren't staying if you keep spying on us, lady!” Hella interrupts as soon as she figures out what the last word will be. Adaire can tell she has to step in or they'll wind up with a broken mirror and a malevolent ghost, but...

 

“Hey, you like apples, right? What if we put an apple in another room, every time we want privacy?”

 

Adelaide flashes them a thumbs-up and vanishes as Hella spins to look at Adaire.

 

“What?” Adaire asks defensively. “Give her something she likes, get something we like, makes sense to me.”

 

“You're the cleverest and most beautiful woman on earth” Hella says, as she scoops Adaire into her arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Secret Samol!!!! Title from Up The Wolves by the mountain goats


End file.
